Subsidised grains for FCT farmers

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has sold grains to residents at a subsidised rate.

The idea of the FCT buffer stock programme the administration says is geared towards reducing wastage and ultimately ensuring food security in the territory.

To ensure that several residents benefit from the sale, 16,507 bags of maize, 1,880 bags of guinea corn, and 2,393 bags of millet all in 50kg packs were sold at 50 per cent subsidised rate as a bag of maize and guinea corn were sold for N2,200 while millet was sold for N3,000.

Minister of State for the FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide said the event is a showcase for the giant strides the administration is making towards transforming agriculture from being a development intervention into a business enterprise.

She said that the programme was designed to use agriculture as an engine for business and entrepreneurship rather than development intervention.

She said: “By this intervention, government aims to increase the productivity of farmers as well as empower the youth and women through various forms of agric business. Consequently, the FCT Administration is championing value addition, sourcing for markets, enlightenment, sensitisation and education of farmers on the availability of new technologies and new ways of agriculture.

“The FCTA therefore, is tearing its barns and expanding its walls to make room for the anticipated growth in harvest from the current buffer stock capacity of 1,250 metric tons to 3,250MT as a result of the boost.

“For that reason, we are opening the floodgates of our storehouses to FCT farmers and residents in order to bridge the gap created by the intervening period, when all the crops would have gone into the ground. This is with a view to stabilising the prices of produce as we await yet another bumper harvest.”